It's Time to Expand the MLB Playoffs (Again)

The MLB playoffs are too short. Considering that the playoffs of any sport should give fans a deserving champion without a shadow of a doubt that they were the best team for that season. Of course, with injuries and luck playing a factor, no sports league will be able to do this every season, but the other three Big 4 American sports seem to make a better effort to systematically pick a deserving champion. The NBA and NHL implement a seven-game series in each round of their playoffs, meaning championship-winning teams have to win 16 additional games after winning 50-65 games in the regular season. This leads to a 2-month long playoff season, which is definitely longer than some other leagues, but it leads to a champion that was the most deserving to win for that given season.

The NFL plays a one-game elimination playoff format, meaning teams only have to win three or four games to win the Super Bowl. This format allows for “lucky” teams, such as the 2011 Giants, who won the Super Bowl with a 9-7 regular season record, to win a mere four games in a row to be crowned champion. But the NFL has several excuses that permit a more luck-based format. Considering that NFL teams take a week in between games to reduce injuries, the playoffs would have to be almost the same length as the regular season if the NFL were to switch to a series-based format. Additionally, the rate of concussions and other injuries would turn the playoffs into a bloodbath. A study published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine in 2017 showed that concussion rates increased significantly in the second half of an NFL season, and that rate would likely rise again in an expanded playoff.

So what is baseball’s excuse for such a short playoff? The MLB has a 162-game season, far more than any other sports league. They have the unique ability to schedule games on consecutive days since games are much less relatively demanding on players, which is a luxury that the NBA and NHL do not have. On top of this, the MLB easily has the most variability from game-to-game, with the best teams only ever winning around 65% of games. For example, the modern record for winning percentage in a season set by the 2001 Mariners’ record was broken by three NBA teams last season alone. Yet the NBA has a much longer playoffs than the MLB. This year, the format forces the 2-seeded Mariners to play a best-of-5 series against the 6-seeded Tigers, despite the two teams only being separated by three games across a 162-game regular season. It begs me to ask why this format still exists, despite all signs pointing to a mass expansion to better determine the World Series winner.

It seems as if money is the driving factor towards this shift from 8 teams to 10 to 12 and more playoff series. According to a press release by MLB, the player pool from the 2024 playoffs was a record $129 million, and players from the winning Dodgers were given just under $500 thousand each. Given that the player pool is calculated from a percentage of league earnings, it makes sense that league revenue was also at an all-time high in the playoffs. But with an already expanded format, it doesn’t make much sense that the MLB won’t expand the number of games a team plays to win the World Series. Why have a three-game Wild Card series played at the same home stadium when you can have a seven-game series where both participants can profit from extra stadium revenue? On top of the aspect of having the best teams win the World Series, this current format doesn’t seem to benefit the league financially, or at least it doesn’t maximize

their profits out of baseball fans. There are some who want baseball to reduce the number of teams in the playoffs to counterbalance for a marathon regular season, but given that other leagues (NFL, WNBA) have changed their formats to get more revenue from fans, it seems like MLB will continue to follow the trend. So it doesn’t make sense why the MLB has an expanded format, but without the length of the series to match. Although it’s currently in its fourth year of use, I expect this half-baked version of baseball’s playoffs to expand to better maximize league revenue while minimizing luck and hot streaks as a primary factor to winning a World Series.